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Former Sweetwater commissioner arrested for campaign finance violations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

Sophia Lacayo, a 45-year-old former member of the Sweetwater City Commission, finds herself on the wrong side of the law once again. Accused of violating campaign finance regulations, Lacayo faces charges related to filing false campaign reports and circumventing limits on donor contributions. According to a police report, she was arrested at around the Miami International Airport This recent arrest marks the second time Lacayo has encountered legal trouble. Back in 2020, she faced a charge of perjury for providing false information about her residency in an attempt to qualify for the position of Sweetwater Commissioner.Authorities have not disclosed the specifics of the current campaign finance violations that led to her arrest. If convicted, Lacayo could face severe penalties, including fines and potential imprisonment.

EU condemns spate of Quran burnings

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josef Borrell on Wednesday condemned recent Quran burnings in Denmark and Sweden.Burning the Islamic holy book “is offensive, disrespectful and a clear provocation,” Borrell said in a statement. Diversity and tolerance for religious communities are key values of the EU and “expressions of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place” here, the top diplomat added.On Tuesday, a Quran was burned during far-right anti-Islam demonstrations in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in Copenhagen. Sweden and Denmark have witnessed a number of recent Quran burnings, which inflamed tensions with Turkey.“Not everything that is legal is ethical,” Borrell said. Some Quran burnings by far-right protestors were authorized by police, however both the Danish and the Swedish governments have condemned the acts. Last week, demonstrators in Baghdad stormed the Swedish embassy to protest Quran burning in Sweden. Ir...

Social media shutdowns? Don’t you dare, activists warn EU

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

Dozens of international digital and human rights NGOs want the European Commission to firmly reject the possibility of its new content-moderation law being used to compel social media shutdowns. A coalition of 65 nonprofits — including Access Now, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Article 19 — today called on Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to clarify “incendiary statements” and confirm that online platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter would not be blocked during protests under the Digital Services Act (DSA). In a letter seen exclusively by POLITICO and sent to Breton, the NGOs warned that the politician’s comments could “reinforce the weaponization of Internet shutdowns” by authoritarian governments. Breton said in early July that the Commission would be able to fine and ban social media networks that don’t “immediately” remove hateful content from operating in the EU under the DSA. Breton was reacting to comm...

4 rescued sea turtles released back into the ocean off the Cape after months of rehab

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

After months of rehabilitative care at the New England Aquarium, four rescued sea turtles are back in their ocean home after being released Tuesday night off Cape Cod.A small crowd watched from West Dennis Beach as the three green sea turtles and one Kemp’s ridley, a critically endangered species, crawled across the sand and into Nantucket Sound. The animals spent more than eight months at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy. As part of their work protecting ocean animals and habitats, Aquarium scientists will be tracking and studying the movement of the three green turtles using satellite tags, which provide valuable information about where the turtles swim, feed, and travel.During the 2022 cold-stunning season, the Aquarium treated 518 live sea turtles that were rescued from the shores of Cape Cod by staff and volunteers from Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. There are 13 turtles remaining at the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Ho...

Loblaw Companies reports profit of $508 million in second quarter

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

BRAMPTON, Ont. — Loblaw Companies Ltd. reported a profit available to common shareholders of $508 million for its second quarter, an increase of 31.3 per cent from the same period last year.The parent company of Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart reported its profit amounted to $1.58 per diluted share for the quarter ended June 17, an increase from $1.16 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.Revenue for the 12-week period totalled $13.7 billion, up from $12.8 billion a year earlier.Food retail same-stores sales were up 6.1 per cent, while drug retail same-store sales increased by 5.7 per cent.The company says food retail sales growth was driven by a continued consumer shift to discount stores.On adjusted basis, Loblaw says it earned $1.94 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.69 per diluted share a year ago.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:L)The Canadian Press

Vermont-based Phish to play 2 shows to benefit flood recovery efforts

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Phish will play two special shows next month to benefit flood recovery efforts in Vermont and upstate New York. The band, which was formed in Vermont in 1983, says on its website that it will play at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York on Aug. 25 and Aug. 26. The band said 100% of net proceeds from all concert and merchandise sales will be directed to a 2023 Flood Recovery Fund that’s part of a foundation it created in 1997. Phish “will support the many victims and their families, area businesses and nonprofits.”The band has been on tour. “As soon as we realized the scope of the devastation, we all together said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’” Phish member Page McConnell told WCAX-TV. “The wheels started turning within the first few days of all the rain and flooding that was happening up there.”Storms dumped up to two months’ worth of rain over a couple of days in parts of the region earlier this month.The Associated Press

Top Russian cybersecurity executive sentenced to 14 years for treason

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced the head of one of the country’s top cybersecurity companies to 14 years in prison for high treason.The trial of Ilya Sachkov was held behind closed doors, which is conventional practice for treason trials, and little is publicly known about the case against him. After his arrest in September 2021, reports said he was suspected of passing on state secrets but did not give specifics.Sachkov is the founder of Group-IB, which specializes in combating cyberattacks and online fraud and investigating high-tech cyber crimes. Top Russian banks and companies, including state-run ones, are among the company’s clients.The Associated Press

Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejects Imran Khan’s request to halt his concealing assets trial

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a petition from former Prime Minister Imran Khan about halting his trial in a lingering case involving the concealment of assets after selling state gifts, officials said.The latest court ruling was a blow to Khan, who was disqualified by the Election Commission in October 2022 on charges he didn’t correctly disclose his assets after selling state gifts that he had received from foreign dignitaries and heads of state after coming to power in 2018. Under last year’s ruling by the country’s election oversight body, Khan also lost his seat in the National Assembly in the graft case. Since then, Khan has been fighting a legal battle to avoid conviction in the case by the trial court. Khan’s trial in the case will resume on Thursday at a court in the capital, Islamabad.Khan has insisted he didn’t buy or sell state gifts in violation of the rules. In Pakistan, government leaders are allowed to bu...

Rogers records adjusted profit of $544 million in second quarter amid Shaw takeover

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. saw its profit decrease by 73 per cent to $109 million in its most recent quarter when it closed its deal to buy Shaw Communications Inc.The Toronto-based telecommunications company says its second-quarter profit compared with a net income of $409 million in the same period last year.The profit amounted to diluted earnings per share of 20 cents for the period ending June 30, down from 76 cents during its previous second quarter.Rogers says the significant drop in net income and diluted earnings per share reflects an ongoing increase of approximately $500 million in quarterly depreciation and amortization from the assets acquired in its $26-billion merger with Shaw, which closed in April.On an adjusted basis, its net income totalled $544 million, a 17 per cent increase from $463 million during the prior second quarter, while its adjusted diluted earnings per share moved from 86 cents to $1.02 per share.Revenue for the period grew 30 per cent to $5...

Most kids with autism won’t get core therapy funding soon: Ontario ministry document

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:24 GMT

Most of the children in Ontario waiting for publicly funded core autism therapy will not receive it any time soon, the government says in an internal assessment obtained by The Canadian Press.Days into his new role this spring as Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Michael Parsa was given a transition binder with information on the files he now oversees.The document obtained through a Freedom of Information request provides a much fuller picture of the Ontario Autism Program than the Progressive Conservative government has so far publicly disclosed.The current program budget is $667 million, but that will only serve about 20,000 children in core clinical therapies, the document says. Meanwhile, there are about 60,000 children seeking services through the program and about 7,000 more are added to the list each year.“Families can access a range of other OAP services, but most children and youth will not receive core clinical services funding in the short to medi...